Bell with heads of a ram, a jackal, and a bovine wearing a yoke ending in uraei

Ptolemaic Period

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 134

Bells began to appear in Egypt about the 8th century BC. This elaborate bell is decorated with heads of animals: a bovine wearing a yoke ending in uraei, a ram, a jackal, and a snake. The clapper is missing. Similarly shaped bells with heads of mythological animals were found in the cemetery at Naukratis, where they must have had some kind of amuletic function for the deceased.

Bell with heads of a ram, a jackal, and a bovine wearing a yoke ending in uraei, Leaded bronze

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Bell with heads of a ram, a jackal, and a bovine wearing a yoke ending in uraei, Leaded bronze
Bell with heads of a ram, a jackal, and a bovine wearing a yoke ending in uraei, Leaded bronze
Bell with heads of a ram, a jackal, and a bovine wearing a yoke ending in uraei, Leaded bronze
Bell with heads of a ram, a jackal, and a bovine wearing a yoke ending in uraei, Leaded bronze

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